Middlesbrough: Your Views

Interesting that Collison is preferred to Bowyer, who by all accounts performed well on Wednesday. On paper, this is one of the weakest teams we have put out for a long time. Let’s hope they rise to the challenge.

3.22: One minute after I post this, Hayden Mullins scores! It’s apparently a lucky goal as he mishit his first effort completely and had to have another go!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 1st, 2008 at 4:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Poxy 1-1 draw….yet it seems like a victory after recent, arguably unlucky losses.

When you see some of the other scores going in today, it’s no wonder we love this stupid, frustrating bloody game….but where are we going to get 3 or 4 goals from, as seems to be becoming the norm this season.

I like the application of the team under Zola, we really seem to be competing…..but Bellamy ain’t gonna do it on his own. What wouldn’t Gianfraco give for a decent 2nd string striker? Sears and Cole are not (currenrtly) Prem standard.

a point will do,i supose after 4 defeats but ffs can we please please please get a clean sheet one week.this is getting to be a joke,we have 4 international defenders and cant stop a thing .oh and an international keeper!

Happy with the point though as were not clever that far north.come on the mickey mousers,now that would make that point even better if they won.

Just watched the game and we threw this game away totally. An hour of dominating the game and not really creating many chances at all. Then almost on the hour mark it was like we stopped playing and wanted Boro to score. Southgate seeing this made the substitutions and we suddenly looked like losing. Zola can’t have a plan B as his reply was to bring on Etherington! This game was there for the taking. Yes we played better than previous matches, but then Boro have been the worst team after Newcastle that we have played so far. And whoever made Bellamy the corner taker needs psychiatric help, the man blasts them like he’s taking a penalty, not one of them stayed in play lol, surely he would be better on the end of them. Usually a point away from home is a good thing, but the way we bossed this game for an hour it actually feels like a loss. I’ll take the point though… grudgingly.

Very happy with a draw. This is a good away point especially after our run, and Boro’s win against City in the week. We didn’t ever stop playing, but Boro’s substitutions were inspired. We played our Plan B today, 442.

Despite the draw, I expect there will be lots of whining. I’ll consider this a good season if we finish above 13th: we’ve got a lot of problems with finances, injuries and a new manager who is finding his feet, but I have faith that we will find our way. Within a year, we’ll be an exciting successful team.

Just back from boro what a hole!!!!! how we never won this god only knows,but I find myself saying this time and time again,Its all about who you’ve got up front,if we had a rooney or a drogba it would of all been over at half time.East london is wonderful!!!!!!!!!

The lack of clean sheets is a concern but I was more worried about wasted chances today. I haven’t seen the game yet but am of the understanding that we dominated the first half and missed several clear cut opportunities to score. If we’d have gone in at half time two or three up this game would’ve been out of sight. The longer it went on with no 2 goal cushion the more that feeling of foreboding kicked in.

Back to the defence – I felt we were unlucky against Arsenal. We looked very solid until Faubert’s OG. I don’t think it was just a co-incidence that we had Upson and Collins at CB – Those two have to be our first choice at Centre Half with Tomka ready to jump in if necessary. Now Bherami’s out Neill should go to Right Back, his best position (or the place where he can do least damage), with Faubert ahead of him.

Keep it up Gianfranco – the players are understanding the new system more and more with every game played. With any luck we’ll start converting more opportunities but it will be down to luck alone – we’re looking very lightweight up front.

Great game yesterday. We were brilliant. If that is the type of football Zola is going to give us no one will complain! (Well almost no one!) They played 442 and were not only comfortable but looked like a different team to the one i’ve watched in previous games. Don’t worry Rob, in my last post i said Mullins was not ever likely to score, (but i’m not going to complain when he does.) Faubert was put where he should be and looked like the player we bought. All over the park we ran them ragged and Collison was great. Again we paid the price for not finishing the game off when we were on top. If Zola can get a top line striker who stays fit and we play like that we will give anyone a run for their money and look brilliant doing it. Like all WHU teams we let them pressure us 20 mins. from the end, not the best tactic for a side with such a poor defensive record and the wall for the free kick was commical for a team playing at any level. Could have and should have won it at the end. It was just a shame we did not wrap it all up when we were giving them the run around. All in all, well worth the long trip and it was great to see us playing the football WHU teams should play. I hate the ‘if only’ thoughts but can’t help feeling that with a fit Bellamy and Ashton making up the 2 we would have got a hat full. Oh well, still a great improvement. I hope this is a sample of what’s to come. COYI

RCM: I don’t think the first few matches of a first season can be used as a yard stick. Although he was never a great player, look at Ferguson’s first season! If they had sacked him, where would they be now? Besides, it’s not just Zola, but Clarke.

Patience is really important in this era of instant gratification and the “do or discard” mentality that is taking over football.

Zola and Clarke are class. They will slowly but surely turn this team around.

I agree with Paul, Zola and Clarke need time to turn things around. Curbs brought alot of players into West Ham with a long history of injuries!. If Zola can off load these players and bring in players that are fit, then we should get better!.
Yesterday was 2 points droped.
ps Iain enjoy the the website!.
Richard

A good overall performance , still as we all know very light weight up front a couple of clear cut chanches went begging due to to lake of quality and or experience, at least we are making the chanches, so in time they have to start going in, only a few weeks to go before the window opens and hopefully we can get a quality striker to play with bellamey, dyer is still to come back and parker who we missed yesterday big time. the defence looks much better with collins alongside upson it is protection from the midfield we lack and someone who can put the ball in the net.Still a top 10 finish is likley and I will be happy with that. If we can spend and sell in the summer zola and clarke WILL turn it round and next season we could be looking at a top 6 place time is what they need along with a few quid to spend and a crowd that gets behind them come what may WE have got to do our bit now and help get through this transition period, anyway we are a dam sight better to watch !!! COYI !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good day out in spite of the weather – friendly locals and, amazingly, friendly stewards as well. Instead of throwing people out for standing they told us to go to another block if we wanted to do this. A refreshing change from the morons I have encountered at Sunderland, Liverpool, Portsmouth etc in the past.

As for the game, it was 2 points dropped but after the performance you could only be encouraged. Collision and Sears played especially well, long may it continue…

I think the first 60 minutes or so proves the point that we have been lacking movement up front. Cole is a good target player in the sense that he can be found with a ball even though he is not moving much. However, that has also made our whole attack stagnant. Now Sears and Bellamy showed us how to keep a back 4 guessing! LBM and Faubert also did their bit.
It’s a demanding game and we can expect some tired legs in the second half but Zola should be a bit more “proactive” and get some fresh people in before the starters fade too much.

In the 38’ Faubert picked the ball up on the brake and when he looked up after a 25 m dash he saw 3 West Ham players already in the box! We haven’t seen that for some time!

You can’t please some people! Gone are the drab, defensive displays of Curbishley, replaced by a team that is finally learning how to keep the ball.

Zola will need this season to assess the players at his disposal and improve his own skills as a coach.Yes, we should have won but I would rather we keep playing football and deserve to win games that we don’t than vice versa.

I was pleased to see Sears given a chance up top and we had to play Bellamy alongside. I haven’t been too impressed with Carlton Cole’s recent performances and perhaps he would be better used as a sub as plan B?

I am also pleased to see Collins back, but it should be remembered that he was responsible for conceding the silly free kick and then compounded that by jumping in the wall and allowing the ball under his feet. Walls should stand still. If the player beats the wall, then it’s down to the keeper.

I hope we don’t see Di Michele again this season but we do need more of a potent threat up front. Collison has been a revelation and must keep his place at the expense of Noble.

Finally, a word for the much lambasted LBM (me included). Nobody can complain at this guy’s work ethic and recently he has shown a glimmer of the player we knew he was. Give the guy a break at home, you never know, he might even remember where the onion bag is!

Yep Tevez is coming back to West Ham and has talked Messi & Ronaldinho to join him. Though he is still trying to persuade Maradona to forget about Argentina and come and be Zolas number 3. He scoffs at Man Uniteds chances of ever winning another trophy and says that West Ham are the only choice he has if he wants to win things…. such as the East London Advertisers annual xmas raffle.

I think I am about to sound like a prophet of doom, but I am really worried about us – I think with the league so close together and no team(s) falling away at the bottom (unlike say Derby or Sunderland in recent years) there is a real danger of us going down this season. We just don’t look like scoring, despite good attacking play and we are still conceding goals as we have always done, no matter who the manager has been (never finished in the PL with a positive goal difference – check the facts and figures). There is lots of talk about selling players, but our squad suddenly seems woefully thin, especially with no return in sight of players like Ashton and Dyer (remember him?). If we don’t take 6 points from our next 2 home games, it could be a long and hard winter. Everton and Portsmouth won’t just roll over at UP.

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About Iain Dale

I'm a season ticket holder in the Dr Martens Lower and originally come from Saffron Walden in Essex, although I now live in Tunbridge Wells. By day I am a political writer and commentator for various media organisations including the Daily Telegraph, the BBC and Sky News. I am also publisher of the new monthly magazine called TOTAL POLITICS. I want this blog to be a mixture of gossip, humour, reporting and analysis - with the odd rant thrown in too. My other blog is a political one at http://iaindale.blogspot.com and if West Ham Till I Die attracts half as many readers as that, I'll be very happy.